The City of Ottawa has been left scrambling after committing a serious breach privacy in releasing to a reporter the names and some personal and medical information of about a dozen city retirees.

Worse yet, the city didn’t realize the error until notified by this reporter.

“Allow me to begin this response by thanking you for drawing this matter of a privacy breach to the city’s attention,” wrote city solicitor Rick O’Connor, acknowledging human error resulted in the “serious breach.”

The information had been released under an access-to-information request on an earlier fiasco in January in which nearly 2,000 city retirees were affected after the city chose Great-West Life Assurance Company as its new benefits provider.

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As a result of the leak, the names of residents who’d complained about the loss of their benefits had been released. And in a some cases, they wrote about their health problems and financial situations.

“This is really disappointing,” former city clerk Pierre Page said.

In his capacity as clerk, Page oversaw the access-to-information division at the city. He had heard of breaches in the past, he said, but he couldn’t recall any instance where individuals’ names were released.

In his case, he’d emailed Mayor Jim Watson because a friend with serous health concerns had somehow been knocked out of the system.

His name and the name of his friend were released.

Some names, along with their phone numbers, were made public — including two names in an email originally sent by Orléans Coun. Bob Monette, who had been attempting to find out on behalf his constituents what their status was.

“This obviously shouldn’t have happened,” Monette said.

“People’s personal information should never be revealed.”

Marcel Chartrand also wrote to his city councillor after the initial story about the snafu in changing companies. The transfer to GWL saved the city about $8 million on a $12.7-million contract.

Chartrand said he’dbeen contacted about the breach by phone by the city but really didn’t understand the issue.

“They said my name sort of stood out, that it was a real hullabaloo, but I really didn’t understand what their concerns were,” Chartrand said. “I guess now I understand why they phoned.

“I’m really glad you phoned and told me what is going on. I don’t know what else to say, I hope it doesn’t lead to anything else.”

He added he’d been at a meeting where retirees like himself were “pretty hot” about the mess with their benefits.

“Really, I’m not sure what to think about all of this,” he said. “It’s not right they released my name. I was only looking for information. So I really don’t understand how this could have happened. Do you think I should be concerned about this?”

Chartrand and a few other employees wondered whether they should band together and sue the city — if only on principle — for breaching their privacy.

Generally speaking, municipalities that breach privacy don’t suffer penalties unless someone sues. But the matter is treated seriously by the province, which demands a particular protocol be followed in explaining how the breach occurred.

Within a couple of days of the retirees’ being informed of the breach, the city attempted to reach residents by phone to apologize. Then it began hand-delivering letters of apology.

Janette Foo, a longtime and respected employee, has been out-of-town but had thought she’d at least receive an email.

She hadn’t.

Doug Wallace, a former city solicitor, had written to staff, and to Mayor Jim Watson, complaining about how retirees were treated during the switch to GWL, questioning the city’s lack of oversight in the transition.

And as someone who really understands the process, he was shocked to learn that his name — along with some of his medical information — had inadvertently been released.

He was even more shocked when told the access request, which is supposed to take 30 days, took almost five months.

While out of town, he has been available by email and cell, but hadn’t heard from the city.

“You mean to tell me it took them (more than four) months to release the wrong information to you? Pathetic! Received no notice that they were going to release the information and as yet, no apology,” he wrote.

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